Nashua Telegraph says "The Associated Press adopting an edgier tone"

[madfloridian]

The Reader Advocate of the Nashua Telegraph presents a long look at the new policy of the Associated Press. He gives examples of the opinions they give, and points out that the executive editor, Kathleen Carroll, appears to fully support this turning of news into opinion.

Good to see a newspaper questioning and pointing out what is happening.

The Associated Press adopting an edgier tone

Thus, I found it a bit jarring to read in The Telegraph's business section an AP story that contained this paragraph:

"Washington policymakers seem more focused on rescuing those who behave badly by putting at risk taxpayers who've played by the rules and shunned the get-rich-quick schemes of Wall Street croupiers."

Wow. That isn't your father's AP. The Associated Press, almost always referred to as "the AP" and perhaps one of the earliest acronyms, has been a critical resource for newspapers such as The Telegraph, which want to present the full range of news to their readers but need to rely on outside agencies for much of their regional, national and international news.

I had not read this statement from Fournier before. It sounds arrogant.

Fournier laid out his views in an internal AP newsletter earlier in the summer. In it, he wrote: "The AP's hard-earned reputation for fairness and nonpartisanship must not be used as an excuse for fuzzy language when a clear voice is demanded, nor should it force us to give both sides of a story equal play when one side is plainly wrong."

Later in the newsletter, he added: "If the 'critics say' something you know to be true, you should assert it yourself and not let it be watered down by a broad, meaningless attribution. You be the critic."

Isn't that sort of how our media beat the drums to invade Iraq?

The media decided which side was right, and it picked George W. Bush and his buddies.

The executive editor, Kathleen Carroll, said "However, Fournier appears to have the strong support of AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll.
In the same Politico piece, Carroll said the AP has made "enormous changes" since she took up her post in 2002. And she made an implicit endorsement of what Fournier calls "accountability journalism" by noting: "Don't make us decrepit or dull when we're not."

So, now they call it "accountability journalism."

As I read it I was thinking of the action link at Fire Dog Lake to contact the papers about Fournier's methods. I guess that is better than contacting the AP itself. They won't change this policy on their own.

Maybe the Nashua Telegraph listened. Gary Vincent, the Reader Advocate, ends with these words....

So, facts are not only stubborn things, they are slippery things. Telegraph readers, and readers of AP copy everywhere, need to keep the AP's new philosophy in mind. AP writers will be calling them as they see them, but that is not quite the same thing as an absolute fact.

CNN is racing FOX for the bottom, AP is editorializing. Major newspapers often take sides now on their news pages, not just opinion pages.

If the newspapers who pay for the AP news are unaware of the editorializing process, that is one thing. If we make them aware....and they still go along then that is manipulating public opinion by adopting the views of Kathleen Carroll, Ron Fournier, and the rest of the AP opinion makers.

[liberalmuse]

1. I sent an email to the AP yesterday.

I am a shitty writer who probably hurt, rather than helped our cause with my email, so I encourage anyone with writing talent to drop an email to Ms. Carroll: [e-mail]

[madfloridian]

3. Oops, meant to reply to you previously...instead replied to myself

Sorry about that.

[madfloridian]

2. I used the link at FDL in the OP

to write a couple of nearby papers. It's really sad to see this happen.